The present invention relates to a cultivator device, and more particularly, to a powered, hand-held cultivator of the type used for cultivation of a small garden or flower beds.
Cultivation of a garden plot is a time-consuming but necessary task to ensure vegetable plants having good yield. Typically, a gardener will use an implement, such as a hoe, to loosen and turn the soil between adjacent rows of plants. This is done for several reasons. Any weeds growing in this area are destroyed. At the same time, earth which has become hard and packed down from watering the plants is loosened. This allows air to penetrate the soil and, additionally, facilitates watering the plants. Since this sort of cultivation can be extremely time consuming and requires substantial physical labor, several power-driven implements have been developed for cultivation.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,888,084 issued May 26, 1959 to Trecker, shows a hand-held cultivator which is powered by a lawn mower. The cultivator includes either one or two cultivator blade units, each unit being rotatable about a vertical axis and including a number of blades. The single blade configuration of the Trecker device would be very difficult to use since rotation of the blade will apply a lateral force to the implement. The dual blade configuration is limited in its depth of cultivation and would not appear to move easily through the soil.
Another type of power-driven cultivator tool has blade units which rotate in a vertical plane about horizontal axes. Cultivators of this sort facilitate movement through the soil because the blades are rotated in the direction of movement and are not completely submerged below ground level. Since the blade units are typically positioned on opposite sides of the cultivator housing, however, this type of cultivator will leave uncultivated a strip of soil directly beneath the housing. It will therefore be necessary to make multiple passes in order to ensure complete cultivation. Additionally, vibration and upward reaction of cultivators of this type may become excessive depending upon soil conditions.
As shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,021,228 issued Mar. 26, 1912 to Ayers, and in U.S. Pat. No. 368,082 issued Aug. 9, 1887 to Featherstone, cotton choppers suited for above ground operation have used multiple blades rotating on oblique axes. U.S. Pat. No. 2,787,106 issued Feb. 26, 1952 to Brown shows a hand-operated cultivator having octagonal blades which are freely rotatably mounted and positionable in oblique axes. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 2,363,268 issued Nov. 21, 1944 to Schiel et al, shows a thinning device having a notched cutter disc rotatable about oblique axes. The notches align to permit only evenly spaced plants to continue to grow with the remainder of the plants being cut by the blade edges.
It is seen, therefore, that there is a need for a hand-held power cultivator having stable operating characteristics and operable to cultivate across the entire width of the cultivator.